Hey folks, Harry here... The Teaser poster for TRANSFORMERS 2 has popped up online and it looks EVIL and foreboding, eh? The rumor I hear is that this movie is ridiculously huge. I'm talking the sort of huge that makes the last film look like a Sundance outing. That's probably because Michael Bay is truly let loose with this one. NOW - if that happens and he can bare to settle down a bit with his frame, so an audience member can really track on what is going on - without getting a headache... and if the film is less silly... well, I know all of you agree... even if you liked the first film, there was definite room for improvement, especially in terms of actually making the Transformers into actual characters, instead of just being effects. Right? Let's hope... Click on the below poster a big version!

I know its like me telling a neurosurgeon to hurry up ILM but just make the robots more easy to pick up with the eye and limit the dangling parts and the fights will be fixed....AND OH...Michael...you might this time want to show the fight between Optimus and Megatron in its entirety instead of dumb cut aways to fucking Shia...I paid to see Good vs Evil not "No, no, no, no, no, no, no!!!" from the guy from Even Stevens.

If this film's first commercial runs during the Superbowl, it may be in the top 5 commercials for the broadcast. As ILM's effects from the first film were so dynamic, the visuals, alone, would generate a lot of interest. Of course, Bay may have just been "blowing smoke" when he said that. Even though some of the music from the score was used in one of last year's pre-game broadcast segments...

... you're right. Letting actors improv some of their lines is nice, but the no-no-no-no's were way too much in the first installment. Duhammel even got into the act, once. This time around, I suspect Bay is going to pay more attention to that during editing. There's just no way he didn't notice it after the fact.

The Transformers was waaay to silly, its more like a fuckin teen comedy. Its like AMERICAN PIE: WITH FUNNY ROBOTS lOlZ! It had the potential to be a great sci-fi movie like e.t. Instead its a steaming pile of shit with some nice cgi.

There are like a millions scenes where actors skid on pavement or are completely slammed down on it...and they get up just fine...AND I'M TALKING ABOUT THE ACTORS. Namely the scene where Shia literally clotheslines Megan Fox off her scooter onto the ground when he is running from Barricade. Chic should have been paralyzed...lets ground into just a little bit of the movie into reality this time. I know this is a film about cars that change into robots but damn respect SOME physics.

The first one was an extremely unsatisfying movie with incomprehensible action, and it did right by NONE of the characters because there weren't any characters in it. (Only special effects.) It failed in almost every way it's possible for a movie to fail. In fact, I think it invented some new ones.

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO THE CADILLAC ESCALADE EVIL TRANSFORMER OR THE 7UP MACHINE TRANSFORMER...ANOTHER GLARING POTHOLE IN THIS FILM...
Look I love transformers...it IS my child hood...lets LOCK IT UP a little Bay...Lock...It...Up.

Can we just copy and paste old Transformers talkbacks? Because it's the same stuff over and over again. <p><p>"This movie was shit! Nobody liked it!" (Except funny thing about that, I know tons of people from ALL walks of life that loved it.)<p><p>I can certainly respect and see why people wouldn't like the movie, and Harry makes some seriously valid points about it. But the problem is the way some of you people think that you know better than everyone else because the Transformers movie doesn't match what you wanted it to be. I don't really think there's a matter of right and wrong on the subject of giant robots.<p><p>Even so, BRING ON THE GIANT ROBOTS!

With those silly "new" transformers that cameo'd in the last sequence of the first film, Sector 7 probably took care of them (they had proven they could already handle the more primal ones, anyway). I guess I see that segment as one of the costs of doing business, since Bay had to raise enough funds to pull-off the first movie. With the second installment, the worth of the project should be well-established in the eyes of investors--- so he shouldn't have to resort to such things. Also... I suspect Lebouf's friends tease him about the no-no-no's. He seems like a rather down-to-Earth guy, which would lead me to believe that his buddies let him have it just as bad as the next guy.

Cause my name is actually D.J.
I just tease Shia...I think he's fine...I think Y the Last Man...if done right could get critical acclaim...great story...if another DJ...Carusso...takes its serious...it could be excellent.

Transformers is one of the few movies that I can watch over and over. And yes A LOT of people love that movie. $708 million at the worldwide box office proves it! Bring on the sequel and the many more that will come!

... I'm with ya' on LeBouf. Unfortunately, I think anyone who has that much success at such a young age is going to get ripped-on by a ton of people who wish they were where he's at. Also... it's cool to know there's a "real" DJ is on AICN, by the way. I only use that handle because it was the name of a role I played in a stageplay a looooong time ago.

Just kidding...Ledger won best supporting actor for critics choice and Dark Knight won best Action...but I think that is all the critics are willing to give em...we'll see if they get best director or film...doubt it.

... not that I'm Bay's counsel, but would you not agree that he's one of the few directors in the *world* who could offer: an existing relationship with the US military, his own near-complete "staff" that had previously worked with him, experience in generating revenue through product placement, a decent track record for making projects within their designated time window and enough name recognition where the actors would follow his lead? The guy isn't perfect, but you do give him credit for being one among only a handful of people who we know could make the project work, don't you?

All you people still in denial about the last one being mostly a trainwreck ought to snap out of it.
You're letting hollywood think that things like story, characters, coherence, good dialogue, and intelligence are unnecessary and as long as you throw some explosions in there people won't care. I mean seriously, yes the action is cool at the end, but you have to sit through almost two hours of horrible comedy. Vern was dead on, there's a stupid unfunny comic gag almost non-stop every 30 seconds in that movie. I mean goddammit people, have some standards.

honestly the terrible camerawork was the least of the problems with Transformers. the ridiculous black stereotypes, the horrendously developed female characters, the subplot story arcs that were COMPLETELY unresolved. that's what was so goddamned awful about it.<p>the fact of the matter is, by any rational standard, the movie was a COMPLETE MESS. the fact that it's only considered a MODERATE MESS is a testament to how distracting the ridiculous action and effects sequences were from the truly horrible writing and direction.<p>also, it's "bear", not "bare", Big Guy...

How dare you rape the perceptions I have of my childhood Michael Bay. How dare you crush the warped sense of sentimental nostalgia that I feel about a TV show with silly to no plot-lines that was created for the sole purpose of selling flimsy toys that broke minutes after they were taken out of the box.
40 Transformers in the new movie should be cool though... I guess.

Seriously, I have a great laugh about people who whine about Transformers being true to the series' "mythology." It was a toy series that was turned into a lame cartoon.
I enjoyed "Transformers" for what it was--a big, dumb, fun movie. And when you say "we're going to make a movie about giant robots that turn into cars," then you shouldn't expect anything deep. It's a stupid premise to begin with...all that it needs is giant robots, big explosions and a lot of destruction.

the problem with that argument, which we've heard for a LONG time, is that it IS possible to make a big, fun movie, and actually make the characters INTERESTING, and have the plot make SENSE.<p>couldn't I say about Iron Man, "it's a movie about a guy in an mechanical flying suit, of course it's gonna be dumb and silly!" but it wasn't, was it? it was actually well made, well paced, well acted, and engaging. <p>and how about, "it's a movie about a guy in a bat suit fighting with a guy in white facepaint, of course it's gonna be stupid and ridiculous". the argument that anything broad with mass appeal is going to be dumb and moronic is a completely spurious one...<p>face it, Transformers sucked. there's a reason why everyone talked about how great Iron Man and Dark Knight were, and how idiotic Transformers was. fortunately there are enough little kids and people with extremely low expectations (and even lower levels of taste) like yourself to make it some money. <p> but don't claim that it is inevitable that a big movie is going to be dumb. it's only michael bay that's dumb, and his complete disdain for his audience.

at internet people telling me how to feel about the first movie and now the second one. Transformers was AWESOME but had its flaws. Michael Bay took an extended toy commercial(which we all loved of course) and elevated it well beyond anything I could have hoped for. And this movie will be bigger? I'm sure I'll see it in IMAX more times than I saw The Dark Night, that being 5.

Jan. 8, 2009, 10:13 p.m. CST

by playa4reel

Geez? Why the hatred for the first flick? To me it was the closest thing we've had to a good ol' 80's flick since well, the 80's! The spirit of that era Spielberg was all over it. It was a good fun, action-adventure pic with big ass robots. Honestly, if A New Hope or Raiders came out today you guys would bitch and moan.

"...elevated it well beyond anything I could have hoped for."<p>jesus christ man, how low are your hopes? are you hoping to make lead drive-thru server by 2015?<p>the movie was a mess. if you enjoyed it, and you're past the age of 12, it's not because the movie exceeded anything. it's because you've got one of those "brain flip-off" switches that frat boys and housewives have in droves. so flip it back on next time before you post again...

we're comparing Transformers to Raiders of the Lost Ark?!?!<p>are you fucking CRAZY?!?! jesus that might have been the dumbest thing I've seen in the talkbacks in a LONG time...<p>and don't try to backpeddle and say you weren't comparing them. you were. fuck, even mentioning them in the same paragraph is a fucking travesty. jesus christ, that is ridiculous.

as long as it has cars/trucks/planes that turn into robots and beat the hell out of each what more to you expect or want out of it?!?!? plus the film gets bonus points for replacing Alba with Fox as America's #1 pin up girl.... Bring it on and keep them coming...

The movie was more of a symbol of a failed format (HDDVD here's why...). I bought the Target exclusive dvd and have it displayed. I cannot get motivated to watch it, yet I have the first three or four waves of the original toys, I even built the Constructicons to make sure I had all the parts recently and discovered I had a couple of Gobots, yay. These films need less hype and more scrutiny, I put these films in the ID4 column where we were given a trailer for six months and expected to show up. It may go back to Jurassic Park where Senor Spielbergo began his new movie model of three chase sequences bridged together with whiny kids and no story. At least that film had majestic shots of CGI and rubber , I do not think we get that anymore.

was an evil ancient Transformer, sort of like Satan. In the comics he shows up and just kicks everyone's ass! This is rumored to be the face of The Fallen. (I'm a nerd, and I'm really looking forward to this movie)

You mean the switch you flipped off before reading my post? I'll reiterate so even a window licker such as yourself might grasp it, however tenuous:
Shitty-in-retrospect 80's cartoon + Michael Bay = low expectations for the movie. Those expectations were met and exceeded. If you can't wrap your hamster-like intellect around that, try toggling your "brain flip-off" switch back and forth with gusto before reading it again. They tend to stick sometimes.

Ok i would like to think i have pretty good taste in movies, i agree with most reviews on this site, i like movies old and new, domestic and foreign and i am at the perfect age where Transformers hit me at just the right age when i was a kid, i loved it, i would run around outside after watching the cartoon and make the noises and sing the song, it was one of my favorite childhood shows and still is, and i LOVED the first movie, i had no problem following the action and i didn't get any headaches, it was a bit silly at times, but it was also funny, and there was many a part that brought back my childhood and brought a tears to my eyes or a smile to my face, like Megatron and Star Scream bickering, or when Optimus says to Megatron during their battle, :one shall stand and one shall fall" yes their is room for improvement, but coming from a true fan of the original it was a damn good beginning.

insults aside, let me get this straight. a director with a track record of making shitty movies is making a movie based on a cartoon property, so you therefore lower your expectations to an unbelievably low level. the movie exceeds these extraordinarily low expectations simply by not supporting Nazism, and so you consider it a success?<p>even further, you call it "AWESOME"!!<p>use all the clever put downs you want (never heard "window licker" before, but have at it) but it is you that looks like an idiot. movies will never get better until we RAISE our expectations. not lower them so that idiot directors like Bay get more and more work.<p>but, hey if it's AWESOME you want, then I'm sure they'll make Bad Boys 3 sometime soon. have fun at Transformers 2 at the IMAX with the kids and bored parents. I'll be licking windows.

Ok i would like to think i have pretty good taste in movies, i agree with most reviews on this site, i like movies old and new, domestic and foreign and i am at the perfect age where Transformers hit me at just the right age when i was a kid, i loved it, i would run around outside after watching the cartoon and make the noises and sing the song, it was one of my favorite childhood shows and still is, and i LOVED the first movie, i had no problem following the action and i didn't get any headaches, it was a bit silly at times, but it was also funny, and there was many a part that brought back my childhood and brought a tears to my eyes or a smile to my face, like Megatron and Star Scream bickering, or when Optimus says to Megatron during their battle, "one shall stand and one shall fall" yes their is room for improvement, but coming from a true fan of the original cartoon it was a damn good beginning.

57% on rottentomatoes, so I guess we're 7% outside of the "mainstream opinion"...not exactly silly, huh?<p>in a world where Britney Spears sells millions of albums, why on earth should you be so proud to be part of the mainstream?<p>anyway, glad you liked the film. someone's gotta serve me fries.

I am usually with you guys on this kinda stuff, i do NOT follow mainstream trends and have in fact used your same argument about mainstream liking sh##t like Brittany and Justin Timberlake, BUT i am also a true fan of the original cartoon and the first movie like i said wasn't perfect but it was a good beginning

where did you get that? I love McDonald's...and I applaud those like yourself who serve fries. a noble endeavor, for sure. but be honest, fry servers are probably on average, less educated and artistically savvy than the average person. and therefore, more likely to enjoy Transformers and it's AWESOME lack of any coherent narrative, developed characters, and it's AWESOMELY stereotypical portrayal of black people and women! fry servers unite!<p>and I don't let rottentomatoes dictate anything from my opinion, trust me. I just brought it up because you made such a ridiculous statement that anyone ripping on Transformers was "so far outside of the mainstream, it's silly" I refuted that, and that's that. but anyway, the movies you listed with the highest ratings are PROOF that people will enjoy and stand up for great movies, if THEY GET MADE. it's possible to make accessible AND interesting movies, but why should any studio or director bother, when Bay can make a shitstorm like Transformers and make almost as much money?<p>crying ELITISM any time someone stands up for film as a medium with potential for financial success AND quality is a little silly. it's a bit like the people claiming Obama was an elitist, latte drinking snob, while at the same time claiming he was a crazy black militant.<p>but with your "leeching off uncle sam" comments, methinks you might have made some of those types of comments yourself. yeah?

I know your taste in movies is the best of anyone in this Talkback or possibly the entire internet, but attacking me and anyone else who enjoyed the first film is something a child would do, which incidentally, your posts suggest you may possibly be. Let the grownups discuss movies while you make fun of people who "serve fries." By the way, now you've got me pumped about Bad Boys 3! Which would of course be awesome.

i liked the first one. i laughed at the talk of making the robots better actors or more human...theyre robots...id expect them to be automated, rigid etc. whilst this poster isnt the greatest im sure that as a big over the top summer action film the movie will be enjoyable. im curious to know what people who hate on these films expect when they go into the theater.

acting like a child is a staple of the AICN talkbacks, sir. I made some good points in my last posts, but you ignored them in order to poke more fun at me. isn't that a little more childish? ignoring legitimate arguments in favor of name-calling. <p>no matter. unfortunately, I'm probably the oldest one here, I just turned 29!!! ancient by talkbacker standards. I even remember the site BEFORE there were talkbacks, that's how far I go back.<p>and as I said before, I do not look down on fry servers. I love down syndrome kids and old people who refuse to retire quietly! they show gumption!

I think what Wonka is trying to say is that , critically, Trans1 did not hold alot of water. Also as far as sticking closer to source material (for god sakes one of the D-cons was named Devastator!) and more importantly source Character Development then it could have been a much better film! Atleast that is what i begin to get from it.
If other people like the film and think it is the best thing since sliced bread then so be it. However I am here to tell you that there is a much better and deeper spirited story to tell that is closer to the source material of Generation 1 Transformers. And yes maybe it seems childing but little things like Lips on Optimus really grates on the nerves of fans. Why? because that one small change means a whole alot! I mean why not take the points off of Spocks ears or I know that heavy breathing that Darth Vader does is kinda annoying lets edit that out! Yes these are small changes but important aspects. With Trans1 they not only changed small things but enormous chunks of the source! So I think the argument is that whether you are in the camp of those that liked it our not both camps are being cheated of a better story!
However I think we all owe Michael Bay some undying Fan love for the images of Meagan Fox we get to watch for the rest of out lives and Shia owes him his first born for being able to make out with her!

... that anyone would type more than 10 characters in a row defending a movie as god awful as the first Transformers turned out to be. BadMrWonka, don't spend too much time and energy defending your stance here. The very fact that you're having to do so means that you might as well be speaking an entirely different language anyway. Transformers is to Cinema what YouTube videos of people lighting their farts on fire are to online entertainment. Some people love that stuff and can watch it all day long. Others of us, well, can't.

Most bad movies make loads of money because people are stupid. So a lot of people voted for Bush in 2000 and 04 were they right? NO! This poster I hope is fake because it's pointless and shows nothing. In movie theaters I bet idiots would walk by and go "Revenge for what? Is there going to be nother Star Wars movie?" Whatever I'm not even seeing this due to the fact the first one was not just bad BUT FUCKING HORRIBLE. People who like it must love eating dog shit off the ground because that is what that movie basically was... but instead it goes through eyes so at least you can't taste it I guess. Why in a movie about transforming giant fucking robots who are at war do we have 50 human characters? The President or whoever that asshole was, the head of sector 7(Who was horrible), the stereotypical fat black guy, the hot Australian girl, the other hot American girl, Shia(I can't act for shit) Lebarf, the army dudes who of course needed to kill not just one but two of the Transformers. Only two humans were needed at all! Worthless shitty movie. If I found out they killed almost all the pointless human characters in the second one, I'd see it. But they won't so I'm not seeing it.

For the record, I don't give a shit about the TRANSFORMERS cartoon or some sad fuck's kiddie nostalgia trip. But for ten bucks, I just want to see (as promised) a couple of giant robots beating the shit out of each other, not two fucking junk tornadoes dancing around in some horseshit ballet...<p>
(I guess that's what they're supposed to be, because they keep transforming...and transforming...and transforming... ALL RIGHT ALREADY, I FUCKING GET IT, ASSHOLES! LESS TRANSFORM-Y, MORE SMASH-Y, ALL RIGHT?!!!)<p>
No shit...I saw this on a state-of-the-art digital projections system, and I STILL couldn't figure out what the fuck was going on...who was fighting, or winning, or whatever.<p>
Forget Michael Bay...it's ILM who's being a bunch of masturbating show-offs (Hey, guys? BENJAMIN BUTTON'S effects utterly owned that shitty green/pink/silver Yoda you put in the last STAR WARS movie). Bet they wreck this one, too. I'll catch it at the 99 cent kiosk. Maybe.

Last time they actually had TIME to write a script and they had a scene with 5 robots hiding in a kid's backyard. This time they had like a month to put the script together. I shudder at what we're gonna see.

Not. Jesus Fucking Mary Magdalene Christ. And please...enough with the Megan Fox shit! She has a nude scene coming up in whatever low budget crap she is in next...so don't use her as an excuse to pad Bays pockets some more. My God you'd think you'd never seen a cheap stripper before. If Megan Fox gets you off that hard and hot...head to the Mall...tons of trashy, overly tat'ed, sexually easy broads exactly like her. But enough...I just seriously can't believe ANYONE thought Transformers was anywhere near a decent film...Crap overdone CGI, HORRIBLE acting..Really Horrible acting...and an Orci script that was bad even by Saturday morning cartoon standards. A film about giant intergalactic robots does not have to be Shakespeare or Scorsese...but at least don't be insulting...and Transformers was insulting to anyone over the age of 13.

But I think this film will be decent. I liked the original for what it was, but I hope the Transformers will actually be established as characters this time around. And I hope that the action will be longer, and the Transformers will have fight sequences that last longer then 2 minutes. :)

As the song goes. Oh - I know. Because dumbasses keep watching them. THESE FILMS ARE NOT DRAMAS. They are not action movies. THEY ARE CIRCUS ACTS. You watch them purely to admire the ingenuity of the special and graphic effects teams. Not to hear a story, to care about characters, to experience that wonderful need to know: what is going to happen next?

Christ, I assumed when the dust settled and you had a chance to think about the garbage you'd sat through that some sort of critical faculty would kick in. <p>On every level bar special effects, Transformers was a horrible, horrible movie.

on a site the other about Wall-e. The majority of people (around 90%)were giving it 4-5 stars but there were a few that gave it 1. Curious to what movies these people gave 5 stars too, I looked at their other reviews. Every one of them gave Transformers 5 stars. It underlines that these people are not interested in story and character at all. <b> Personally, I thought Transformers was just OK entertaining shit as a summer film, but a fucking awful 'Transformers' movie. The fan in me dies a little everytime I see frenzy.

Well said man.
<p><p>
the original plot for the cartoon would have been far, far cooler than Bays movie was.
the idea of the transformers crash landing here 4 million years ago is better than them arriving here in current day. it emphasized that they were an ancient species with millions of years of backstory. as well, the battle for energon and the race back to Cybertron to rule it is far more interesting to me than the battle for the mcguffin device that turns regular objects into transformers. Turning any object into a transformer devalues the characters whos characters we are supposed to be exploring here. If any object can turn into a transformer on the fly you're taking away from the depth of EVERY transformer in the movie.
<p><p>
all this garb of "oh it was based on a cartoon I didn't expect shakespeare" makes ZERO sense to me. Batman was based on a comic book character made to sell, comic books. Transformers was based on a cartoon made to sell toys. Who cares? The premise and fanbase of each are strong enough to garner over 150 milion dollar budget for a reason. And both should be treated with care. I suppose people in the "no shakespearean quality for cartoons camp" enjoyed the hell out of Batman and Robin playing hockey with Mr.Freeze in Batman Forever.
<p><p>
He-Man is another movie being made based on an 80s cartoon made to sell toys. Should it be made as a silly joke movie as well?
<p><p>
the series had it's flaws. Ironical and contrary to what many people think though. The fact that it was a toy line actually enhanced the stories in a lot of ways. For example the killing off of Optimus Prime (due to a discontinuation of his toy and to create new toys). Ended up being one of the best things to happen to Transformers.
<p><p>
Each 20 minute episode wasn't exactly a contender for any epic writing award however as a whole, over the entirety of the series some excellent and amazing events and characters were fleshed out. The Constructicons had an over 9 million year history as did Optimus Prime who started out as a humble worker robot named Orion Pax. 50 million years ago the transformers were created by an organic race (Quintessons) as robot slaves who gained consciousness and ran their masters off the planet. So long ago that all records of these times were lost and the Transformers, like us, were left to wonder where they came from. To me the story is a logical progression for movies with themes such as "The Matrix" or "Terminator". This is a story LONG after the organics are gone when a mechanical species thrives as a civilization, similar to humans. Where evolution and technology are one in the same. Where there is no fantasy or magic but technology so advanced that we can't even comprehend them. Technology such as a robot being able to transform into an object the size of a micro cassette recorder. (Soundwave).
<p><p>
All of these things aren't going to happen in Bays transformers due to a lack of understanding of the mythology. Soundwave, one of the most beloved Transformers was stricken from the first movie altogether because they were afraid he wouldn't work. Where movies like Batman Begins didn't strike anything out, Nolan MADE IT WORK. Bay chooses to strike important and interesting elements out altogether.<p><p>
Most of the crappiest things about the movie were a DIRECT result of trying to change things....
<p><p>
Frenzy, the Jarjar binks of Transformers movie existed because they tried to find a way to change Soundwave..... noone who gives a rats ass about Transformers would ever liken Frenzy to Soundwave.
<p><p>
Bumblebee losing his ability to SPEAK. The writers had this
vision of Bumblebee and Spike first meeting and having to learn about each other purely by means of body language. (essentially Bumblebee playing charades with Sam) So they decided to shoehorn into the story that Bumblebee, one of the main transformers had lost his ability to speak and with all the technology they have, they couldn't repair his vocal processer. W.T.F?

...as the first one. I gotta admit, as a fan of the original toys, cartoons (which I realize, looking back now, aren't animated that well, are kinda dated, but still fun), I did NOT like the first movie, did not like the liberties it took. But, I think I would've disliked it even for the lame, lowbrow humor throughout: the masturbation jokes, the "my bad," and ESPECIALLY the obnoxious characterization of nearly every black character in there: Bernie Mac and especially Anthony Anderson's characters were just made out to be complete fools. I mean, you don't need stupid Martin Lawrence-like mugging to make this kinda movie funny, it's Transformers for chrissakes: ANY scene with some hotshot yuppie/punk pulling up alongside one Witwicky in his car and trying to look down on him, only to have his own car suddenly transform, walk away, and put the guy to shame would go a LOT further than some stupid donut scene. And MORE STARSCREAM this time!! (or better yet, why not develop ANY of the Decepticons' personalities??) Thank you.

might as well not bother going to the cinema just to rant about ho nothing is like the toys of their child hood all over again. Simple fact, you guys need to grow up not just a little but a lot! The original was simply a bunch of odd shaped toys - yes TOYS! The Cartoon was a make-it-up-as-you-go series with lots of stupid scenarios, stupid transformations (Megatron into a handgun?)and so many vehicle jokes that the whole thing was beyond childish. But it was for kids right, so that's ok! The comic was better than the TV cartoon but also had to settle for a lot of the silly Toy looking designs and they also lacked original forms for these robots when they were supposedly on their own planet 4 million years ago NOT looking like vehicles we'll invent 4 million years later! If any of you ever got out of nostalgia mode then you'd realize ONLY YOU can it through the 80's TRANSFORMERS THE MOVIE and let the silliness of the feature go over your head as long as the fights were mostly cool! In all these shows had so little or no human involvement that Earth simply was a place for the toys to meet up and fight, zero military involvement or police in barely any episode at all and utterly nothing in the animated movie!
Along come Bay with a live action film and you all expect him to remake that foolhardy show to please your childhood loins and so you can all gather around places like this and jerk off in a the same bowl about how happy you are with your childish things coming to life on the big screen - NO! The world is not a bunch of idiots who fell in love with their toys and never grew up, THAT WOULD JUST BE YOU! Bay had to make a film that made a lot more sense, If robots came from another planet, then they had to look like they cme from another planet with completely different technology, not one that uncannily resembles our vehicles by chance! Yes there would be human involvement, yes there must be military and secret service involvement because it's our bloody planet and that's what we do when things we don't understand end up here, we get involved, we investigate and we utilize it! The Bay movie came with a good deal of external backstory material in comics and Novels just as the Star Wars films and other films have recently done like Van Helsing, Underworld or Matrix. How many of you even bothered with any of this to further understand the featured depth of the plot beyond your ignorance to follow it beyond ticking your scorecards f what was like the original and what wasn't?
Quite simply the world embraced the new adaptation with open arms and left you guys in places like these meeting up ass to ass so you can all shit in the same pile about how much Bay's Transformer movie sucks and was gay etc blah blah what have you! This time around will be no different, the film will be another huge success, we'll all love it and be thoroughly entertained again, and you guys will continue to sulk about your childhood things that you simply can't grow out of or see any fault in because of nostalgia! ..YOUR PROBLEM, not Bay's and definitely not ours!

the cartoon lacked the budget to design robots for their cybertronian modes and also, IT WAS A KIDS show so yeah some of these things slip by.
<p><p>noone would expect that. what they WOULD expect is a good fucking movie, engaging, where like Batman, ALL THE SILLINESS somehow made sense. Thats what the writers should have been doing. Making it all make sense.Atleast the important things. THeir problem was... they didn't know what was important.

Read what badmrwonka and bruticus have said and rethink your argument, because at the moment it's only serves as amusement to read. <br> I especially like 'Bay had to make a film that made a lot more sense'

I really don't care HOW the film adapts the book. Take any liberties you want, I say. CLUELESS is a better adaptation of EMMA than, er, EMMA - in my book anyway. My criticism of the film is simply that although things seem to be happening, there doesn't seem to be any sort of involving plot, or story. Although there are superb actors (I include Shia), there were no characters you went home thinking about. There was no imagination. There was no drama. No humour. I don't need things to be 'Shakespeare' but I do need them to be entertaining on a basic level.

I can see why people went to see it. All the trailers looked great and it seemed like it was going to be a big robot brawl movie. What we got was a ABC Family comedy that happened to have robots. If you enjoyed it...great, but many did not. I was not expecting Shakespeare or Kubrick, just a competent story with big fighting robots.

Bay is a talentless hack who shit all over the established designs and story in the first film as well as putting in ridiculous "jokes" that weren't funny. This film will be shit.<br><br>
Oh and I never paid to see the first film, so all those Talkbackers who say the haters will be there on opening day are wrong.

exactly... the effects looked great and made the trailers look great. you knew the FX costed a lot and you thought if they're spending this kind of money on FX theres no fucking way they could skimp on...THE SCRIPT!?!!

Well, if you loved it I sure as hell can't tell you that you DIDN'T. That would be mad. Maybe we really do need to find another word to differentiate between blockbusters like TRANSFORMERS and blockbusters like DARK KNIGHT or HELLBOY II. What do you think? There IS a difference, isn't there. Let's not forget, people, that one of the first blockbusters was THE GODFATHER. There is no shame in being popular, and only a cynic thinks that popular = dumb.

TWO of the characters in the movie are Soundwave rejects. Blackout was going to be Soundwave til Hasbro told Bay, no Soundwave is a MUSIC PLAYER. SO rename Soundwave to Blackout and try and develop another character. The next character turns out to be the Jarjar Binks of the movie, FRENZY, the ghetto blaster. The fans see the design and freak out, rightfully so, this character is NOTHING like Soundwave. They decide to leave Soundwave out altogether. So we have two characters worth of effects that could have been used towards ACTUAL transformers characters. They leave them in the script I imagine because they dont want to waste time on the script by having to write these lame ass characters they invented out. "Ok fellas.. lets keep these stupid characters who Hasbro can't stand in the movie,.. I mean if we take themout of the movie we have to actual write some GOOD stuff to make up for those lost pages..."

The following POPULAR films can be enjoyed whilst munching popcorn: Rear Window. The original Star Wars trilogy. North By Northwest. Back to the Future. The Incredibles. Spider-Man 2. MIssion: Impossible. The Fugitive. The Sound of Music. Red River. The Searchers. The best James Bond films. The best Harry Potter films. Total Recall. Midnight Run. Collateral. Chicago. Oliver! Oh, god, I could go on for ever...

Bay will continue to rip-up traditions of storytelling, drama and character. In a way it doesn't bother me. His films will, ironically, turn into dinosaurs very quickly, since their only value is as a demonstration of cutting-edge effects. They offer nothing of perennial interest. I thing they come to be regarded in the same way we look at Irwin Allen disaster movies of the 70s. Circus acts. Pure circus acts.

I find it impossible to enjoy any movie with popcorn around me. Seriously, can't theatres sell marshmallows in cloth bags? Food that's fucking silent and odourless. It's one of the reasons I don't go to the cinema at peak times anymore.

And I was a fan as a kid.
Can't wait for this. My wife wouldn't go to the cinema for the first one. We watched the DVD over Christmas and now we both can't wait for this one.
When I farted this morning it sounded like the brass on 'Pit Of Carkoon'.

the only thing lamer than that poster is the fanboys screaming for 'dialogue','plot','character development',and 'reality' in a movie about giant metal robots beating the ever-lovin' fuck out of each other, fuck off and watch Slumdog millionare if dialogue, characters and story are what you want<p>
Diet Coke comparisons? are you fucking serious? if you squint it tastes like coke, come on *sigh*..... at least give an anology about a ugly up close woman or a work of art and its messy brush stokes... diet coke.. dude, you seem like a smart chap.. pop another quarter in and have another crack at it...<p>
Looking forward to another movie about Giant Robots beating the ever lovin' fuck out of each other, My wife is more excited about it than i am, we gonna get some corn, some reeces pieces and the biggest fucking soda they got and we're going to enjoy the hell out of this check your brain and your penchant for geeky poofter posturing at the door, and get your ass kicked by giant metal robot smackdown, a modern but not too edgy soundtrack, and eye candy lots of eye candy, while you all can watch whatever 'optimism is overrated, we think the world is shit and we're doing our best to make you remember that' oscar bait that might be trendy that week. Shit movies like Transformers may be shit for geek cred, but its good for the soul....<p>I know its only a teaser but the poster is lame, give us something worthwhile like a shot of a city street, showing Megatron from the back, in the distance between megatrons legs, we see Shia and Megan on the ground (fallen over or some shit) like little ants looking up at Megatron, about to get squished and scared shitless.. then talk about revenge.. That would be a teaser.

It's not a choice between Michael Bay or Ingmar Bergman. We're not saying that. I would LOVE to see a great movie about giant robots beating the crap out of each other. But can't you understand that any fight is much more exciting if you GIVE A FUCK ABOUT WHO IS DOING THE FIGHTING!!! That's why the fight at the end of the original ROCKY was so thrilling. That's why Indy versus Big Bald Guy in RAIDERS was so rousing. That's why Ripley verses the Alien Mother made me want to stand up and cheer at the end of ALIENS. And why James Bond versus Red Grant made FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE kick my ass so much. Is there seriously no part of you that can see that those are superior popcorn films?

Come on people the movie we are talking about is TRANSFORMERS....directed by Michael Bay....It delivered exactly what was expected out of it...was it Great NO- THAT would have been IMPOSSIBLE considering the talent involved, but for what it was it was a damn good film....it wasn't like say -and I brace to be flamed here-The Dark Knight which was a pretty damn predictable Movie-Come on,did ANYTHING surprise you in the story??-But was executed so well it changed perceptions on What a "Comicbook" film could be??? of course now EVERYTHING is going to be "Dark"..kinda like the '80 after Frank Miller changed things up ...

The issue is GOOD versus BAD filmmaking. You are right to say: 'It's a Michael Bay film, what do you expect?' But I could equally say: it's a summer blockbuster. I expect to meet memorable characters; I expect exciting (as opposed to loud / confusing) action sequences. I expect a story that makes me wonder what is going to happen next - and HOW it is going to happen. I expect to be pulled into someone world. I expect more than to say 'gee, the special effects were good'. 'Gee, the special effects were good' is an appropriate response to a TV commercial; not to a summer blockbuster.

I guess I am a bit more open minded, to me it delivered what I expected, and so to me it was a success...My 12yr old son Loved it- and he no doubt was part of the target audience..I wouldnt want to see a "deep" movie it would come of almost pretentious...seriously I can hear it now...The Coen Brothers pitch....Transformers,huh, We got it, its a twist on Cain and Able....

For starters I couldn't give a fuck about the cartoon. I'm not asking for "Shakespeare", I'm not asking for "Citizen Prime" but I was hoping for a decent action flick. The film failed at that basic concept. And tbh that's all mrbadwonka and mr gorilla are saying.
<br><br>A good blockbuster needs likeable characters, it needs humour, but at the same time the concept it's selling us needs to be taken seriously, I can't feel involved or care about the characters to enjoy the action if every 5 minutes the film is pointing out how stupid the idea of transformers are and throwing shitty jokes at me. It also needs good action scenes, that are well directed. It needs a somewhat engaging plot that makes sense.
<br><br>
Transformers1 failed on all of these. Everyone trying to defend it and claiming that everyone who trashes it must have been expecting shakespeare is missing the point entirely. The film just wasn't well made or entertaining. It failed to do what a summer blockbuster is meant to do.

you completely and entirely missed his point! Where was he saying he wanted a "deep" movie? He just said he wanted a good summer blockbuster, which transformers failed to be. Can people please stop saying the people who criticise transformers wanted shakespeare or similar. That's not what we're saying. Raiders of the Lost Ark is just a summer blockbuster, it's not a big complex deep story. But it does succeed at being an entertaining and memorable film.
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Why is it pretentious to hope for an entertaining summer blockbuster with fight scenes where I can see what's going on?

Biggest complaints from last one: silly humor (Bernie, the pee, etc.) many of the actors looking like they are supposed to be in a catalog. The women looked like models and the men looked like models in watch ads that you find in Esquire. More grit. More dark. More character development. More about the bots, less about Shia.

it was a Michael Bay film...not a Steven Spielberg....and with that in mind, what it delivered is what you should have expected....and with that in mind it worked...personally I'd like to see more Transformers and less Benjamin buttons/Doubt Oscar grab pictures...and while I am hoping Can we get a follow up The Usual Suspects already???????

Regarding Transformers, and despite the denials from people who said they would not pay money to see. some if not all were there if not on opening day, they went to the film and paid their tickets and saw the film. some still said the movie stank. but some actually enjoyed it. I thought the reaction to the movie from the day it went into production to the day of its release was overly hysterical.

In fact, in the first movie, he moved around so much that you never get a good look at his metallic-vagina of a face.<p>
If you save this image and open it in Photoshop or Picture It! and click "Edit--Effects--Negative" it turns into Venom.

You're leaving out a shitload of stuff that is wrong with this movie..or lack there of. I DID grow up on transformers...and GI JOE and GOBOTS and THUNDERCATS and HE-MAN...hell even Jem and Denver the Last Dinosaur. And as reports came in I was a big proponent of the Transformers when people were lambasting it early. Then I saw what they did to Prime(Gay flames, no faceplate) and Megatron(A ship?) and I was officially going to tell all my friends to boycott this movie.
Then I realized as of late I hold no influence with my friends when it comes to directing them to see stuff I consider great and not to see things I know to be awful. They take my opinions with a grain of salt and most of the time watch/dont watch shit I tell them to spite me. But I put my foot down and said I personally was going to boycott Transformers. By myself. My friends would bring it up, knowing that I hated it to tease me or get a rise out of me as they like to do. But I was firm. I would not see it. And then on Tuesday I realized that I was becoming what I swore to myself I would never be when it came to film. Unobjective.
So I saw Transformers. I did all the movie type lingo as said above (SHUT OFF YOUR BRAIN, FORGET IT, LOWER YOUR EXPECTATIONS) and more importantly I decided to look at it as a stand alone movie. Seeing as Spielberg and Bay were not bringing the original back story in and all the stuff we loved about the show and 1st movie...I decided to not either. That was a mistake.
As a fan boy you can ignore bad things in a fan boy movie as long as it appeases to your nostalgia of the original. Here with transformers they decided to throw out 90percent of the nostalgic and redesign their own flick. Fine. But when the fan boy smoke screen is ignored or taken away the blaring luridness is greatly apparent.
The things wrong with this movie I will state will be stand alone and not related to differences from the original. Though there are thousands of unforgivable things that this film has different from the original apart from design(Starscream wanting to actually thaw out the robot he's always hated? hmm.)
1. JAZZ - Jazz actually says and I quote "Autobots Represent" and " This looks like a cool place to kick it" Other than this being racist this is so campy. To endear Jazz to the audience we'll have him be the break dancing street robot. He says four campy lines and then dies. And we're supposed to care? If Bumblebee died then we would care. But the seen at the end where Optimus is casually holding jazz in both hands like a broken dish comes off like a brush off. "Jazz is dead he was a great friend...but NOW WE GOT NEW ONES YEAH!" I don't blame Prime to brush off Jazz cuz...who gives a shit...he wasn't endeared to me as nothing more than a stereotype(AND DON'T COUNTER WITH JAZZ WAS A STEREOTYPE IN THE ORIGINAL AS I'VE SAID WE'RE LEAVING OUT THE ORIGINAL. WE DON'T WANT TO HAVE A DISCUSSION ON HOW TRUTHFUL TO THE ORIGINAL THIS IS AS I'VE SAID) Handled bad. Turn off your brain and forget it.
2. John Torturro - I would have never thought that Da Jesus would be getting R. Kellyed on in a Michael Bay film. His performance was straight out of all the bad scenes in Men In Black. He is supposed to be the Adam Baldwin character in Independence Day(Get to that later) character in this film but comes off more like the butler in Mr. Deeds. S7 t-shirt? Come on. Turn off your brain and forget it.
3. Asphalt doesn't hurt - How much does Shia Labouf weigh? 170? 180 tops? But Barricade(Police car) slams him again and again into the ground and he not only stays conscious, he's running away. How much does Megan Fox weigh? 100? 110 tops? And yet Shia gives her a clothesline ala JBL off a moving bike onto...you guessed it, hard pavement. However, she snarks at him as though he scuffed her keds. She should have been bleeding all over the place or...DEAD. How much does prime weigh? 100? 200 tons tops? Yet he pins Shia Labouf against his chest(metal by the way) and crashes down on pavement and....Shia Labouf is fine. The guy from Vegas. DUMBmell. What's his skin made out of? Flesh right? Yet he gets a ducati to about 80 mph, JUMPS OFF, SLIDES on his BACK around 20 feet, kills Blackout, and hops right back up. You couldn't do that on a slip and slide without ripping your skin off. Asphalt in this movie doesn't hurt. Turn off your brain and forget it.
4. Disappearing Character - No i'm not talking about Tyrese or Anthony Anderson(Thank god they left) I'm talking about...hmm...I don't know....MountainDewatron or Xboximus Prime or Cadillacron. AND MORE NOTABLY Scorpinok(He didn't die. His tail was cut off) They just...vanished. Were they killed? Did the Autobots kill them? Are they still reaking havoc? Sssh Michael Bay is keeping it a secret. Turn off your brain and forget it.
5. Autobots hiding around Shia Labouf's house - The title it self makes no sense. Its as if the Autobots were like the velveteen rabbit, or snuffleupagus or Hobbs. Grown ups can't see FOUR 12 story robots that leave earthquakes when they tip toe because they lack a child like innocence. Turn off your brain and forget it.
6. Optimus vs Megatron - Lets not entirely show the most climactic fight between the two main characters in the movie. Lets have the battle shot over the shoulder of Shia Labouf out of focus. The equivalent of showing the final battle between Hector and Achilles in Troy over the shoulder of Brian Cox. Damn at least when they are talking to each other, SHOW THEIR FACES. No. We get Shia Labouf crawling in a ditch. You could have zoomed out and had Shia Labouf standing in between the two of them with all the carnage going on in the back ground. That would have looked epic. Sorry. I'm giving Michael Bay direction. "My bad" as Optimus once said(I'll get to bad lines later) Turn off your brain and forget it.
7. Final Battle - Why would a group of robots who want to protect humans so bad bring the all spark to the most populated part of the city to fight for it? Hmm? Could have just fought around the dam. Turn off your brain and forget it.
7a Sam's end run - Though I though it looked cool but let me understand the logic. "Sam I'm a 200 ton robot from outerspace. You're a 180 pound nerd from the valley. I think......you should hold on to the heart of my planet and run it up a building for....for....I um forgot why you were climbing the building in the first place Sam. Just run. Don't give it to any of the HIGHLY trained army rangers either. I want you to hold on to it Sam. Protect it with you meager life." Though as I've stated earlier. Shia Labouf's character is unaffected by asphalt so thats a plus for him.
8. Cop scene with Labouf - You're Law & Order SVU questioning me for reporting my car stolen? God I hope when some ex pornstar looking cop questions me with unsubstantiated bullshit and threatens to actually WHIP MY ASS IF I PULL HIS GUN OUT my father won't just sit there and watch me take it like Shia Labouf's dad did. For this entire scene PLEASE turn off your brain and forget it.
9. Shia Labouf bumblebee reveal - Follow me here. Shia Labouf thinks his car was stolen. He follows it. He sees it doing some weird Autobot batsignal. He realizes its now a robot. He runs from dogs and then bumblebee donuts around him and Shia throws bumblebee the keys and says and I quote "You can take it. I don't want the car anymore. You can have it" Ummmm who is he talking to? The invisible thief in the car that he now knows doesn't exist? Turn off your brain and forget it.
10. Robot fights - Take a whole bunch of car parts and painted scrap metal, roll it into a ball, zoom in on it and then toss the ball down the hill. Visually I have described 80 percent of the robot fights in this movie. Though I have to say Prime vs Bonecrusher was great. As well as Bumblebee Barricade. You don't want to use shaky Paul Greengrass shooting and editing on creatures that are as complex and nearly unrecognizable as these robots. When Iron hide does his matrix flip shooting its hard to know which end of him is which. Megatron just looks like scrap metal. The only recognizable ones are Prime and Bumblebee. You can kinda tell where their parts are but you really have to squint. I understand making the robots realistic. Hell the ILM for this is as stated amazing but could you please make them look a little streamlined so I can tell up from down...oops sorry Turn off your brain and forget it.
11. Decepticons - Short of Blackout and that annoying ass Frenzy....what are the decepticons doing this whole time? Sleeping. making bombing runs with the 35th airborne. They just show up from no where. Are they just kicking it like Jazz proclaimed? Turn off your brain and forget it.
12. Ebay pic of Shia labouf - Huh? Why? I don't get it? Turn off your brain and forget it.
13. Sector 7 Independence Day - There are long...and I mean LONG moments of this movie where its possible the screenwriters mixed up their script with Dean Devlin and Roland Emmergay's Independence Day movie script. The morus code thing for one but mostly the sector 7 reveal. Its a mirror image of the Area 51 reveal in Independence Day. Dialog and everything. Come on its kinda fun to mix an match. Replace Megatron with the alien in the glass case. Replace Jon Voight with Bill Pullman. Replace John Toturro with Adam Baldwin. Replace Shia Labouf with Jeff Goldblum. Replace the guy from Vegas with Will Smith and ITS THE EXACT SAME FUCKING SCENE. LINE FOR LINE "You mean this whole time you had an alien species hidden here and you didn't tell us!" I know this movie was rushed but I'm waiting for the law suit. Turn off your brain and forget it.
13-A Megatron waking up - The coolent system holding this evil ass robot has failed. Lets keep the workers standing around him taking ice samples anyway. Why rush. I'm sure he won't be pissed after being frozen ALIVE for 10,000 years or some shit. Its only this evil as robot that Prime has said kills at will. "Bob just get me another reading on his pinky toe please. Huh? What did you say? Megatron woke up and squashed Bob and his staff of 13 people? Aw thats too bad. Serves them right for being in a union. Hey what are you ordering for lunch. I'm having chinese and...what....Another murderous ass robot just landed on the top of the dam with Megatron? Guess we should go then huh? What? Oh same crazed ass minirobot is blocking our way cuz we sat here and kicked it. Damn. I wish I would have had time to react to this turn of events. Turn off your brain and forget it.
14 Anthony Anderson's point - What was it again?....hmmm....oh there was none, seeing as though he never broke the code the Australian bird brought over to him to decode....? Oh well thats embarrassing.
15 Bad Lines - You have left off some doozies when it comes to bad lines here. MOJO is that what they're calling it now?
Are you ladies man 1087?
Man if you could see this shit!
Bad mojo. Did he pee on you?
That's his bling
EBAY!!!?!?!!
You know we don't harm innocents Ironhide. Whats with you? WHATS WITH YOU PRIME???
You're a soldier now!
I'll agree to help you if you let my parents go and her juvy record....gone.(Following that) Thank you Sam.
Left cheek?
No I don't want to try your premium package
You're coming with me. For what? To advise me. What about me? Who are you? He's my advisor.
Shut up Grandma
We're here to climb this tree
and many many more
16 Prime lets Bumblebee get captured - HUH!?!?!?! "You mean we're just going to let them take Bumblebee prime?" "There is no way to save him without harming the humans." HERES A WAY. Why don't you just go down there and do that magnetic gun trick you did with sector 7 men before. Or just GO DOWN THERE! I'm sure They ain't gonna start no ruckass with Four Auto bots standing there. "Taking the children was a mistake" But taking Bumblebee....eh....Thats okay. He'd understand. Feh. Turn off your brain and forget it.
NOW I did like some things in this movie.
Peter Cullen was great....not his dialog...sucked as far as i'm concerned...but that's the writers fault. Cullens delivery of all that horrible dialog....almost made me accept it. He sounds so cool. Its the main reason everyone loves Optimus. He's like the robot version of Barry White or James Earl Jones. You got to love that voice. Like a warm blanket. But his dialog. UGGGGGH. I say again "EBAY!"
As stated before...Bumblebee was great. He was cool. Bumblebee was cool can't believe I'm saying that. Sorry, almost brought up something from the show.
Blackout(Helicopter) was the shit. Favorite scene of the movie by far was Blackout fucking up the army. Thats how a Transformer would fuck up the public. They forgot that at the end.
Starscream attacking the jets....fucking cool. 2nd favorite scene in this movie
Prime vs Bonecrusher....Great
Megatron flicking a human and calling him "maggot". Terrific.
The transforming was fucking great. ILM Must have worked on that for years(Along with CGIing off Megan Fox's tattoos) cuz its flawless and different everytime. They could do this movie over and just have them transformers transforming over and over and I'd pay for it.
Scorpinok attack (MINUS "Left cheek" and Phone call scene) was cool...
The point of this rant is I don't know why everytime we go to one of these dumb blockbuster films its like okay to turn off our brains and forget it. Why? Why hold something at such a low standard? That we love? If thats the case we should do this to every horrible movie out there and excuse it. Like Batman & Robin or Exit Wounds or Catwoman or Cradle to the Grave or Torque or Meet Dave or Daddy Day Care or Fire Down Below or anything by Uwe Bol. If you can't. If you can't turn off your brain and enjoy those movies why should you enjoy this.
That is my objective review

Knight, if anyone wants to make a sequel "like" Empire Strikes Back, the idea should be to up the drama--the human emotional tension, show action with restraint, and at the end make it look like the bad guys have really won, at least for the time being.

Thank you, you put the case much more clearly than I could have. And, as you mention, there is something basically insulting about pointing out how stupid the idea is every 5 minutes. It's like Bay and company are laughing at us. Look how differently Spielberg handled things in the first Jurassic Park. He realised that 'dinosaurs on the rampage' risked being pretty dumb, so he spent a good HOUR selling in the idea, getting us all to go along with it. The result was that the action in the second hour was totally thrilling - even though it is like a low-budget art movie compared to all Transformers' scale and locations and explosions and cast of thousands.

I really think that making a solid popcorn movie is just as hard as making a solid art movie, or indie movie - if anything harder because all sorts of exterior pressures impinge on the process. I'm not saying that directors today should 'follow the masters' step-by-step. Because one of the hardest things about making a popcorn movie is that us audiences are always demanding something NEW, something we haven't seen before.

Have you ever actually read a Batman comic as clearly trying to compare the 2 is ridiculous.Batman has always been very character driven whereas Transformers was always nothing more than a toy advert.I spent my childhood watching that show and they pretty much did nothing but fight over energon cubes and introduce a new toy evey once in a while.
After watching Bays movie, i watched the animated movie(you know,the one where the leader of the toyocons dies)it was trash! It was just a string of encounters with new toys.If you look at the history of transformers,the cartoon was clearly there to sell the toys not the other way round.
And anyone who talks about there being millions of years of mythology clearly isn't a child watching the series but an adult who should have probably moved on to more adult sci fi.Most of the newer mythology linked to transformers actually shits on the childhood of many of the original childhood fans for whom the joy came from its simplicity.
Transformers had a ton of flaws but was it dumbed down when compared to 2 hours worth of the cartoon? Clearly not,some would argue it was smartened up.
Oh and just for the record i enjoy all kinds of movies i just appreciate them on their own merits.Oh and please MrWonka dont go to see transformers 2(or download it)as clearly you already know you will not enjoy it.

Best movie of 2007. Even with the limited budget, the movie kicked all kinds of ass. Now with twice the budget, I really want to see the shit ILM and Michael Bay can pull off. Devestator alone will make me see this movie at least 3 times.

That scene was so stoopid it actually sucked intelligence from my brain that I have yet to re-build. Please allow me to add my voice to those that hated this movie, I tried watching it twice and still couldn't make it through. When they had that big meeting with all the world's best and brightest and brought in slacker-jackasses from college I wanted to blow up a planet. Megan Fox is hotter than hell but even she isn't worth it. This sequel will be so bad that the DVD, when it eventually is released, will transform into a small, portable commode that you can actually take a dump in.

for so long that now there is major fall in such things, Movies and tv shows are now in real jeopardy. Peyton Place was americas first soap opera. It was called a soap opera because it was sponsered by a leading american soap brand. They really nothing more than serial dramas. which is what they are called now, especially in the UK. 24hrs apart from being a kick ass hour of tv was also heavily sponsered show. All cars were sponsered by Ford. The list is as long as your arm. Hasbro produced a whole range of merchandise for Transformers, Cartoon series, toys, comic books etc etc. So to somehow say that its wrong for bay to make merchandise and therefore make money out of transformers. misses the point. Hasbro makes toys. The same was true for Teddy Ruxpin, Cabbage patchdolls, My little pony, Barbie and ken and strawberry shortcake and the care bears. They all were toys and were spun off into tv adaptations and subsequently films. and books.

Have you actually read any of the character driven Transformers comics? You seem to have this insane idea that the only source material is the cartoons. That's like saying the Batman movies were based on a camp 60's show. I'd do some research on a topic before chipping in with useless arguments.

You say the black characters in transformers are stereotypes.But one was a hacker who liked video games who was quite cowardly.And the other was a used car salesman trying to make a buck(like all car salesman.
Now i thought the stereotype of black men was they were gangbangers or crackheads or are just there to be the 'cool' one.These characters fit none of the stereotypes i'm aware of.
And the female lead was an attractive girl who was strong willed and was a pro mechanic(hardly a female stereotype)The other female in the movie was the best hacker(and the only one that didnt look like a nerd.So smart skilled strong females are stereotypes.
Admit it you just wanted a dumb chick in a bikini blowing optimus.
You dirty boy.

I'm not sure I understand this one. I remember there being these toys called Transformers that were various vehicles that turned into vehicle-shaped robots. Is that what this is?<p>Are the toys animated, like a stop motion kind of thing, or is it a cartoon?<p>Either way, what a good idea! Making toys into a film sounds like perfect entertainment for small children or retarded adults.

1) I don't understand the "Transformers was exactly what I expected it to be, therefore it is good" argument. Fucking Meet The Spartans was exactly what I expected it to be. Dogshit.
<p>
2) Why people claim that it's silly and dumb because it's based on a cartoon. Have you gone back and actually watched some of those old shows? Or the 80's movie? The original show actually had way deeper and better written characters, far more mature and complex themes and plots that largely made fucking sense and remained true to their own internal logic. In short, defenders of Bay's Transformer movie are defending a DUMBED DOWN adaptation of a show made for fucking eight year olds.
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3) Finally, I don't understand that quote from Bay where was talking about conservation of mass and how he didn't want to cheat with the designs of the robots and have parts disappear like they did in the show. Is Bay actually aware that they made toys that were physical objects that exist out here in the real fucking world or what? What the fuck is wrong with him? And then the stupid cunt threw the whole thing out the window with that big cube thing that magically transformed into a tiny cube.

Children will be reading this website, eager for news about filmed versions of all their favourites like Transformers or Care Bears or Dora The Explorer, and they won't be used to words like 'c***holes' and 'b****es'.<p>Please spare a thought for this film's audience before filling the air with your foul verbiage.

My son loves to play with his Ben 10 toys, and I know his little face would just light up upon seeing all his toys up there on the big screen.<p>Can one of you guys who knows so much about Transformers let me know whether the Ben 10 film is on the way?

or his scriptwriters will include another "are you masturbating in there" sequence to make parents like myself have to explain when they get home with their kids what would otherwise be an ok-for-kids movie? Damn you, Michael Bay. Damn you for that. Robots peeing on legs was not enough. You had to bring up jacking off.

like that Michael Bay commercial, where he would walk around explaining "In Transformers 2 we're going to have AWESOME hot dog stands...KABLOOEY...an AWESOME subway train...KABLOOEY...an awesome coca-cola machine...KABLOOEY" stuff like that. I'd respect him more if he sold it that way.

Now I'm not too sure if this is the right film for little Frank, Jnr.<p>How can toys masturbate, anyway? Or urinate, for that matter?<p>I am just a concerned parent and not well informed about these things.

Don't you remember that part in the first movie where Sam is in his bedroom looking for the glasses, and he's stalling for time because the robots are waiting outside, and his mom and dad are banging on the door? His mom asked whether he was "masturbating in there." I mean, to you and I, yeah, that's funny. To an eight year old girl, it's a lecture at home waiting to happen.

You must not have seen the first Transformer movie--it's in there. Others will vouch. I can't recall if the movie was PG or PG13. At 13, I think most of us knew what masturbation was. But at 8-10, most kids don't, and moviemakers should expect that some parents will indeed take their kids to the giant robot movie even if it's PG13, and they should know that a reference to a sex act like that would be a bit of a curveball for ol' mom and dad in the suburbs.

Clearly, your parents did not teach you the importance of proper etiquette.<p>It disgusts me that this man, Michael Bay, has tried to create an enjoyable entertainment for children, and you have sullied it with your your awful potty mouth.<p>Shame on you, scotsman75.

fun,but pointless.....people liked the movie the box office $$$ proved it...and you'll never convince people who liked it, that they didn't or vice versa....same as you never convince people that Star Trek is better than Star Wars or that TDK was the best picture...

I mean, in a PG13 movie, even if your kid is say, 9, as a parent you can predetermine whether the child can handle a certain amount of violence, or even profanity, onscreen. It's quite another thing to have a character in the movie verbally reference a real-life sex act that the moviemaker knows full well that most kids won't have heard of before. The parent can expect a certain amount of fighting and cartoon violence. They can anticipate a little sexual innuendo (like Megan leaning over the carhood). But there's no way of knowing a specific reference like that is coming. That's what I'm getting at.<p>
scotman, your mouth is a filthy anus, I will pray for you

I will never waste another cent of my money or even another kb of bandwidth or the time it would take to download the pirated copy of the this film. A pox on the house of Bay and anyone who actually defends/enjoys the first film or is planning on seeing this next one.

Violence in a film about children's toys?<p>I am HORRIFIED to read this. Can this really be true?<p>Will the Ben 10 film also be violent?<p>What next, making a film about Dora The Explorer's adventures as a filthy lesbian?<p>This is disgraceful.

Megan Fox needs to be naked in the next one. I was watching the original Planet of the Apes the other day, rated G and there is an extended nude sequence with three dudes (including Heston) in the beginning. We need to get back to the days of G rated nudity and we need to start here.

Surely this is some kind of joke. What is the world coming to when this film - which is obviously designed only to appeal to children and those who have unfortunate mental disabilities - would feel the need to stoop to such cheap tactics as violence and nudity?<p>There must be someone I can write to to complain about this.

Oh yeah, you mean that part in Planet of the Apes where the spaceship crashes, and the three guys get out, and go skinny-dipping, they they felate and sodomize each other and shoot loads in faces, just to take the edge off, you know, they've been in cryosleep so long and the chick died in transit, and after sucking each other's meat staffs, they shoot each other in the heads, and brain and blood and bone fragment particulate splatters all over. <p>
Yeah, that was rated "G" in '69

Bay wanted the movie, a movie based on kids toys, to appeal to both younger kids (who would buy the toys today) and somewhat older kids. Unfortunately, as mentioned here, his idea of gearing it to older kids meant objectifying Megan Fox with centerfold type shots, and references to jerking off and golden showers. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for that kind of humor in an R picture, but not one I might consider taking the kids to. I don't need my 9-year old daughter thinking that the lascivious way Sam looked at Megan is the way all men see women. <p>
Even if it is.

Mate.... I wont respond to your whole "a thousand monkeys working on a thousand typewriters" post because it would take me too long and I have kids to raise.<P> so I'll just start with the end.<P>
"Why? Why hold something at such a low standard? That we love? If thats the case we should do this to every horrible movie out there and excuse it. Like Batman & Robin or Exit Wounds or Catwoman or Cradle to the Grave or Torque or Meet Dave or Daddy Day Care or Fire Down Below or anything by Uwe Bol. If you can't. If you can't turn off your brain and enjoy those movies why should you enjoy this. That is my objective review"
I can turn the brain off with Transformers because I DO care, and DO love it.. I was a Transformers fan, I loved the crap outta it... 15 years ago. <P>I wanted this movie to work because of that love, I want this film to entertain me. I never cared enough about the other movies you listed to warrant a chance to do that, and its not about lowering expectations or standards, its about sitting there and saying "Okay film, you have 2 hours of my time.. entertain me", which essentially, is what I go to the movies for. Now, it may not have done the job for you, but that's not my issue, I'm not really interested in who else liked it. It entertained me, so it did its job, so much so that I saw it twice in theatres, and I bought the bluray, and its great for when I want to pop it in and forget shit outside of the movie.<P> Nitpicky shit like this is why Chris Nolan deserves an oscar, because people who are too close to the source material (see:nerds) are far too hard to please, and yet.. he did it. Big Time. <P>You say its bad to hold something you love to a low standard.. is it not just as damaging to hold the standards and expectations too high?. Say you have a child, (I'm not making assumptions, but just for the exercise lets say you do), a boy, bright, energetic, charismatic, adorable. just for example.. now you love and care and want the best for that boy. lets say your expectation of that child is that he will grow up, go to college, find a girl, get married, have kids, grow old, etc because that's what his brother did 14 years ago. Do you love that child any less if he came home one day as a 19 year old and said "I'm going to go to art school in New York and live with my boyfriend"?... does it make you love him less because your picture of what it should be isn't what it is?, or do you accept it and keep on loving it?. Its a long bow to draw, I know.. but its late where I am, I can't sleep and its the best I got haha. Bottom line.. You didn't like Transformers.. well... shit happens.. and although I think its sad you're missing out, I am not going to try and convince you to love it, just as my opinion wont be swayed by anyone else on here. I'll just accept you don't like it and be done. Have a great day. :)

Sorry to call you a bitch like that but Bay made fun of other movies with trailers showing their own giant robots. This was clearly a slam on T4 and McG, who we know can be very hurt reading the comments on here about his name and his reputation and gets defensive at BNATS but now Bay slams him and suddenly T4 is all about copying Transformers. After all his hard work, man. I mean McG must be going red now. I mean for a ginge. The internet can be a very hurtful place.

why not say "More Flames on Optimus Are Coming..."<p>
The new McDonald happy meal for the film will include a Megan Fox action figure in a midriff shirt and miniskirt jeans which are removable so you can bend her over for rearward entry...would you like fries with that?

I mean really, you cross the English border and you're surrounded by skirt wearing bitches that are 2 tight to buy a round and still paint their fucking pug ugly ginger mugs blue. <P>Not to mention their horrific looking women.

and doesn't know, or hasn't figured out what masturbation is yet; well, I hate too tell you...but that kid is full retard. Then again you are probably just lying to yourself that he/she doesn't know. Denying your own child's growing maturity, as a way of denying your own advancing age, is a common psychological malady. It is why you see parents apparently unaware that their 11yr old daughter is dressed like a whore, or that their 13yr old is having sex with the babysitter, and why GROWN, Otherwise MATURE adults can seemingly stomach sitting through a prepubescent targeted, horribly acted, CGI wankfest, shit storm like Transformers and think it is good.

..ok, you sorta got me. It does seemto be a rampant part of US culture. Look at it this way, we kill enough of each other off and maybe it helps the world become a better place. <p> tho, personally I'd start with less Michael Bay tripe. but loud mouth retards knocking each other off might work, too.

you can't get uppity about shit liek "who's really a Brit" on AICN Tb's. Just whether Michael Bay eats cock or not, whether LOTR is better than SW, or whether somebody is a racist for making certain comments in an AICN obit. Leave the geography lesson out of it.

Is that why Trainspotting had to be dubbed in every non British country because no-one had a clue what the characters were saying? Or why Mel Gibson played William Wallace? Or why Sean Connery doesn't live in Scotland? Or why Gordon Brown is a Politician in Englan instead of helping the Scottish Government?

Scotland forever what? <P>Scotland forever Europe's heart attack capital? <P>Scotland forever highest instance of child abuse in the british Isles? <P>Scotland forever a dismal and rainy offshoot of England that we'd float off into the north Atlantic if we could? <P>Any of those accurate?

They are to Europe, what Michael Bay is to cinema-- a thorn in my fucking asshole that needs to go the fuck away. <p>There is a reason 98% of the world's porn is shot in the beautiful San Fernando Valley-- because white bitches in Europe look like they have fucking dongs!!

TRANSFORMERRRRRRSSSSS... dahnahnahnah ... TRANSSSFORRRMMMERRRRSSSSSSSSSS .... more than meets the EYYYEEEEE!
Something evil's watching over you
Comin' from the sky above
And there's nothing you can do Prepare to strike
There'll be no place to run

Ok i hope i actually get some responses to my post this time, first of BadMrWonka i am turning 30 in 3 months! so maybe im the oldest here. I grew up on 80;s cartoons, ALL of them, i was a cartoon nut and Transformers was one of my favorite cartoons, and as a fan of the original show, the first film was pretty good! it has room for improvemant yes, but it was not a bad film, and for those of you wondering gee, what other movies does this guy like, Baby Momma, Shrek:P well here are some of my favorite movies.
Oldboy, Seven Samurai, Yojimbo and Sanjuro, Branded to Kill, Lord of the Rings, both Kill Bills, The Seventh Seal, Deadman, The Third Man,The Whole Lone Wolf and Cub Series, The Holy Mountain, Pierrot le Fou,Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring, the Original Star wars Trilogy, the list goes on:P

as is your bs patriotism. <p> I bet you're not even scottish. You're probably some suburban white kid from middle America who could only hope to be cool by perpetrating himself as a Scot and looking for some "bad love" on the internet. <p> Sadly, AICN TBs are a decent place to find that kind of thing.

by building a wall to keep you out. <P>How have you not evolved in 2000 years? <P>Why did you never manage to invent trousers? <P>Why are you the only nation in Europe with comparable obesity rates to America?

Than Scots must really know how to fuck. I find I put on weight whenever I eat too much pussy. I take back everything I said about Scotland. Any European nation more American than European is tight with me.

... I don't know the answer to your question. What I *do* know is that if anyone offerred a legitimate criticism of Bay's "Transformers" work, it's been negated by the rapid decline in this board's dialog. It's all good, though. While the first movie had some problems, the assets far outweighed them... and I'm hoping part 2 will take things to the next level.

are probably the same people who shit a brick when someone asks 'Um... isn't The Joker still in Bruce Wayne's penthouse?' after the Cookie Monster dressed as Batman saves Rachel. STOP TELLING ME THE MOST INTELLIGENT MOVIE OF ALL TIMES HAS PLOT HOLEZ! IT'S SO CHILDISH!!!
I liked both TDK and Transformers by the way.

To answer some of the TB'ers, it's not that you find Transformers to be good, it's that there seems to be an inexplicable void when it comes to explaining why you like it. This is a forum for talking about movies, and it would be awfully boring if every comment in the chain read: "I liked it, and I don't have to defend why I did" or "I didn't like it and I don't have to defend why I didn't"<br></br><br></br>The reason we're here to explain why we like or don't like these movies. So far, I have yet to have one person who liked Transformers clearly articulate the reasons why they liked the movie as a stand-alone movie, not based on absurdly low expectations.<br></br><br></br>Absurdly low? Yes. Because every element of this film save for the SFX fell flat on its face. If we're only judging it by action movie standards, the editing looked like it was done in a Cuisinart, if we're talking about cinematography, the action was shot way too close to the robots to distinguish what you were looking at from a wadded up piece of tin-foil. These are two areas that nearly all mere competent action films accomplish. I'm not even talking about writing, acting, directing or any of the more artistic elements of the film, just the technical ones so far.<br></br><br></br>But there is one big factor that kills the movie over everything else, the factor that forms the basis for why people pay money to go to the movies in the first place: to be told a story about characters you can invest yourself in, or at least laugh at. If we don't care, there's no point except to watch things move, and in the case of Transformers, random movement abounds. However, if this is the standard by which we judge a film successful at achieving its goals, then I would posit that you'd be better off poking sticks into anthills and watch the result. It'll save you the money in gas, ticket and possibly concession prices.<br></br</br></br>So for all of you who defend the movie as worthwhile, don't simply shrug it off. You came to a movie discussion TB, so go to the trouble of telling everyone why you thought is was so good, or worthwhile. What specifically did you see in Transformers that appealed to you. What aspects reached you and made you care enough to defend the film (thus far without much if any detail)? Were you moved when Jazz was 'killed'? Can you honestly say you cared about the fates of the characters? Seriously? If so, illuminate me please by actually examining your support and formulating reasons for why you ended up liking this, because I've seen lots of TB'ers articulate in excruciating detail the large amount that failed.

Sam takes Megan out for a date in Bumblebee to a drive-in, where he slams the bone home. Then megatron and the decepticons show up, and giant robots fight, and beads of sweat congeal on Megan's breasts.

It was an alternate form to the "Alien Jet" form. I realize with shaky cam and those idiot hyper-cuts it is almost impossible to follow the action without re-watching it numerous times. But after re-watching it numerous times I've caught the scene where Megatron actually does turn into a big ass cannon 2 times in Bay's Transformers.<p>And the end city battle when Megatron and Optimus Prime face off finally, Megatron slaps his arms together and makes a big cannon...Prime hits him with something and knocks him back but he then reforms the canon and blasts the shit out of Prime (he flies down the street and smashes into a building). So yes, Megatron was absolutely a big giant fucking canon in Bay's Transformers. It's just that you have to watch it multiple times to catch it. The scene is actually probably the kewlest thing Megatron does in the entire movie. The scene where Prime kills the big Helicopter Decepticon...did you notice he forms a big ass sword (think Voltron) and stabs it thru the Helicopter guy's neck and tears off his head. It's all there if you watch it enough times to catch it...

I agree with most TBers in here , Transformers misfires on quite a few cylinders, to put it kindly...My biggest gripe is the action, which in the end is what this is, a sci-fi action film. The best action scene i can think of was the freeway battle with prime and bonecrusher..that scene couldve been longer. However, they chose several or more speedy but lesser battle scenes. The movie is also clearly lacking tension, everywhere. Every other scene seems to be a payoff/explosion too soon or some character doing something loud, obnoxious, silly or whacky. It seems M. bay is terrified of being still for a fear of being boring perhaps. Just like a great song, a movie needs a build up for that chorus..There are no verses in Tf, just unevenly loud and jerky choruses....I don't buy that excuse that the writers made, that they didn't have enough in the budget to cover lengthier actual transformer scenes..There is plenty that could've been cut to make a tighter better movie. I would rather see 3 or 4 great action sequences than 10-15 choppy, short and incoherent ones.

Have you fucking notices this? Men and women.....after running for 10 seconds on screen will be covered in golden grease and dirty smudges for the rest of the fucking film!!! FACT!!
<P. WIlford Brimley: IF I'M LYIN, I'M DYIN'.

It's called AWESOME sweat. They lube the actors' skin with vasoline, then use a spray bottle to apply water over the top to simulate beaded sweat. It's AWESOME. Especially after an AWESOME jog through the park, an AWESOME football game, AWESOME sex, or an AWESOME battle.

lol, too funny, coked up sooccer moms indeed!! Can you imagine james cameron doing a Tf film? Fuck, that'll never happen but one can dream...What happend to action movies anyhow?? It seems every genre still has its balls intact EXCEPT Action..WTF??!! Dramas, Horror(especially!), comedies, indies, etc..We can laugh or cry at someone getting their legs broken or face ripped apart, but its not ok to enjoy it in an action movie. Other genres come out with some wonderfully gruesome disgusting and vile shit but action is out of the question..very few i can remember in the laST 10 years that had any kind o f a nut sack. ITs not that I have dying need to see some gruesome crap, (more tits would be nice), but why pg-13 action and not everything else? It cant be cause of the money, alot R films make money dont they? Unless, its really the money. Fuckers. ass raped T4 too.

You know maybe All you Englishmen/Scotsmen would get along better if you had some decent looking women in your countries lets be honest Scottish Women & English "beauties" all look like the ass end of a diseased cow..i think thats the reason for the violence and animosity you have towards each other.. that & the crappy sitcoms you send us to watch on PBS..Rumpole on the Bailey my ass

Trannies from Miami are hotter than any actual females in England/Scotland. There is something severally fucked up with their faces and hair. And I'm not talking the fucking breast implant pin-up model FHM chicks...I'm talking the actual women you see in line at the grocery store. They look like Steve Buscemi in drag.

Ha! Well done, Abominable Snowcone.<P>Strange how DICKBLOOD manages to conjur up the same ideas as Memories-Of-Murder. M-O-M used to complain that Bay filmed Megan Fox in such a way so as to make her look like she had been covered with 10 gallons of semen. Apparently, the cinematic result of hi-def close-ups of a person filmed outdoors, sweating in the California heat were lost on him.<P>What a fucking nutbag!

I lived in England for three years thus point sorta always came up with my other 'foreign' friends and me. <p>
We pretty much came to the conclusion that its cause they've been basically mating in the same small homogeneous circle for generations. And the food/ diet couldn't be helping either...

Post away like the little minions you are. Keep this TRANSFORMERS Talkback at the top (like its brethren before it) where it belongs.<P>TRANSFORMERS TB = Signature AICN Lunacy<P>THE POWER OF BAY COMPELS YOU!<br>THE POWER OF BAY COMPELS YOU!<br>THE POWER OF BAY COMPELS YOU!

You seriously think the glaze of grease on all the actor's faces in Transformers is the result of California heat, or are you just being a smart ass? <p> And thats right-- I'm MoM in disguise just because I have a problem with that punk motherfucker DocP.

laboof only got his job because of who his mommy knew, and the last transformers sucked ass cause michael bay thought it was more important to show laboof instead of optimus prime. i doubt very much they could improve things here

You say we who like Transformers dont give reasons why? thats because noone seems to be reading my DERN posts!:P i hwill say again, i am almost 30, i grew up on 80's cartoons and loved Transformers, and the movie was pretty good, it made me laugh, the action was great and i had NO trouble following it like so many others(maybe you guys need glasses) and it was AWESOME to hear the old voice for Optimus Prime back in action, Hugo weaving was great as Megatron and i hope you comes back as the voice! i like hearing him Bicker with Star Scream, i loved when Optimus said One Shall Stand And one Shall fall(brought a tear to my eye) all in all i think it was a very good first attempt, it could have been better yes but it was not bad at all.

A million years ago action movies were almost always rated R and even then we barely got a boob shot (think the momentary and obligatory boob shot in the first Die-Hard). And movies like Bay's Transformers obviously weren't exactly the same type of action films back then (based on pre-existing commercial products wasn't as common) but typically, horror and hard action were always rated R.<p>But with the advent of the nineties and the new God (Profit, all hail, Profit, all hail, Profit, all hail, Profit...) major studio movies exist only because some suit thinks they will make money. Even the worst shit from any major; someone thought there'd be a profit (obviously). All things stem from profit in Hollywood today.<p>Movies as an art form still exist but it's the rare gems. Hollywood, in general, is in the BUSINESS of making movies; nothing more and nothing less. The "art" doesn't have shit to do with them anymore (same for the RIAA, all about commercial appeal and nothing else, period).<p>Big surprise right? What did we expect? I've read that certain breed of dog will eat any food you put in front of them and if you give them a 55gal drum of dog food they will literally eat themselves to death. Seems familiar? Indeed (altho manic obsession with profit doesn't kill you, just turns you into an asswipe douchebag-rex). How about some fucking restraint? Or is that outdated too? A "trite" concept as obsolete as silverware for the Olsen twins? I'm sure.<p>Of course we, the typical movie consumer, do not help when we pay to see dogshit like "Epic Movie" or mindless but still fun action flicks like Bay's Transformers.<p>I like the schlock and I like the art but I often wonder at the overlooked and the undisclosed. Those rare creative works that evoke more than the words "that's fucking awesome dude!" and actually leave a mark on the viewer. Those are why we really love movies...at least in my case anyway...and I just can't imagine that quite a few have been lost to the manic obsession with profit.<p>Not that there's anything wrong with that...mind you.

Are you going to try and tell me that it's 10 gallons of semen or some other "grease"? Or are YOU just being a smartass?<P>And yes, I know you're not M-O-M. I just couldn't pass on that particular detail.

....they need to tie it in with Avatar somehow, because that things already got dibs on ripping off Stargate. So these two shitstorms should join forces and become MegaShit. <p> I've said it before....<p> JAMES CAMERON = MICHAEL BAY (no difference)

Transformers use lubricant. Don't you remeber? When that fucking robot lubricated The Jesus? "Stop lubricating the man!" Ok ok...fun action movie fine. But god damn it's sad that The Jesus did it...what were you thinking The Jesus? what were you thinking?

He just pulled a gun out while still staying in robot form...And Optimus didn't kill blackout (THE helicopter robot as you called him) he killed the mine finder truck Decipticon called bonecrusher. Know what you're talking about before you criticize.

I also love movies as you say the "overlooked and the undisclosed. Those rare creative works that evoke more than the words "that's fucking awesome dude!" and actually leave a mark on the viewer." but i also enjoy movies like Transformers, it was very nostalgic for me, i am definitely not your typical movie goer.

...I can give a shit if this movie bombs or make bazillions and wins the Oscar for Best Picture. Either way...I really don't care. <p>
I don't get worked up over Bay. He's harmless, and he still wears a denim jacket....so.........

Seriously - that Evil Transformer has a WHEELGINA on its face. I hope it does a sweet headstand/wheelie whilst shooting lasers from its arms/legs. Michael Bay's contribution to society - the Wheelgina.

Um, he did turn into a big gun. Twice. Watch it again. This time use pause and slow it down like I did. He turns into, basically, a giant artilary canon and his entire frame is used in the transformation. He is not remotely "holding" a gun in that sequence.<p>You got me on the one decepticon's name tho. I couldn't remember if it was the big truck, tank, or the helicopter but I remember that one guy sliding through the tank's legs so I just 'process of eliminated' it and was wrong. My bad and sorry!<p>But, more to the point, I actually wasn't overtly criticizing the film. I think it's good mindless fun (as I said, more than once) but people saying he needs to turn into a big gun missed it when he did. Bay's use of quick cuts makes it hard to follow but I was actually defending the film when I was implying that people rewatch it or you might miss some very kewl action sequences.<p>Perhaps you need actually re-watch the scene in question, lighten up a bit, and then know what you are talking about before you get on my shit.<p>M'kay?

Um, he did turn into a big gun. Twice. Watch it again. This time use pause and slow it down like I did. He turns into, basically, a giant artilary canon and his entire frame is used in the transformation. He is not remotely "holding" a gun in that sequence.<p>You got me on the one decepticon's name tho. I couldn't remember if it was the big truck, tank, or the helicopter but I remember that one guy sliding through the tank's legs so I just 'process of eliminated' it and was wrong. My bad and sorry!<p>But, more to the point, I actually wasn't overtly criticizing the film. I think it's good mindless fun (as I said, more than once) but people saying he needs to turn into a big gun missed it when he did. Bay's use of quick cuts makes it hard to follow but I was actually defending the film when I was implying that people rewatch it or you might miss some very kewl action sequences.<p>Perhaps you need actually re-watch the scene in question, lighten up a bit, and then know what you are talking about before you get on my shit.<p>M'kay?

God... now that I realize I'm seeing the crown of some baby unicycle robot from Evil Robot's goddamn face-vagina, this has leapt straight to the top of the "horrific images burned into my retinas" category. I just hope Evil Robots don't have litters - otherwise I may throw up during this movie.

At first viewing it was just too erratic and my mind revolted a bit and thus my initial take was: it SUCKED. But after watching it a few times and actually paying much closer attention to the action sequences, I find the quality of them to actually be *hindered* by Bay's quick cuts.<p>I think the Berg said it best when he said a fast story doesn't need fast cuts as the plot moves you along. Transformers had a very quick plot moving you right along so I think the manic cuts harmed the picture (think like the second Bourne flick where what looked to be some sweet fight choreography was ruined by Greengrass's idiot shaky cam obsession).<p>I'd actually defend a movie like Transformers now but I think Bay and team went a little too overboard on the cuts as the action as written, was quite enough to forgo camera tricks to heighten the action. But that's just my take of course.<p>That said, I still wish Turturro wasn't in it...I just cannot relate to the sector 7 cartoon like character they gave him and The Jesus. Basically, if they just cut all the bullshit comedy out, it would have been a purely kick ass action movie. Still basically mindless...but kickass and without hamfisted dumbass comedy (most of it...a couple scenes worked, police stations, Mojo's "bling" etc)

The Alien/Egyptian/Aztec thing is old news. But the story of Avatar follows the exacty arc as Stargate. Cameron should have written something originally instead of focusing all his energy on smearing sour cream on Meryl Streep's tits.

I think Cameron may have written that Avatar treatment like 20 years ago, long before Stargate came out. I've no idea where I'm getting that from though so don't quote me on it, cos I might well be talking shit.

For all Transformers flaws...that movie and Bad Boys 2 are some of the sweetest action spectacles I've ever seen. Keep up the good work, Bay. I hope they give you as much money as possible and free reign. FUCK THE HATERS! You and Christopher Nolan are the only two people in Hollywood right now getting the money on screen. Can't wait to see this one!

Weren't you going to kill yourself or something during Christmas? I thought that's what all that weepy "If I don't see you guys any more after the holidays, then thanks for these past few months" shit was all about.
<p>
Oh, well...

To even utter Bay's name when talking about film directing and use Nolan's name as a comparison to strengthen your example is the EQUIVALENT of talking about the acting of Vin Diesel and using OSCAR WINNER Phillip Seymore Hoffman as a comparison to strengthen your example. That clear enough for you Dickblood...?

First off to dioxholster, i am a peaceful man by nature but i would ask you to please come to vancouver, BC, canada and tell me FU to my face, oh and by the way i am 29, 5'10 260lbs(not all muscle but not all fat either:P) and quite strong i am not bragging but i can pretty much guarantee i could rip your face off, my friends and enemies alike don't call me Berserkr for nothing, and Darth Macchio thank you for your comments, its nice that someone actually listens on hear and actually has something intelligent to say.

Oh grow the fuck up. You know damn fucking well that post you're talking about was in one of the Twitch TBs. So you sit there all day reading our discussions, terrified of joining in-- knowing I'll just tell you to fuck off or what? I say kind words to the regulars I talk to and you use it as a slam against me. Yeah I was gonna kill myself. Fuck off you dumb shit. You act like I'm all over the place trying to find a friend. If there is anyone that just wanders around looking for AICN pals its you. The only person still saying positive things about your ignorant ass is your fuck-buddy Gaius.

I don't read Twitch for your sake, sorry. I enjoy the discussions by the other people there. I don't join in any more because it would mean having to either be civil towards you, ignoring you or beating on you. The only reason I abstain from the latter is my respect for most of the other posters there. Out here, though, it's open season -- especially after you call me out.

Well thanks, i am Canadian after all, we are a polite society as a whole, although not always:P and when someone gets me angry well, you know how that line ends:P "HULK SMASH!!!" :P and kenjinattix i am perfectly calm:D

Oh yeah I agree Avatar is a Stargate rip (I read the treatment/synopsis thingy). I was just letting Diox know that Crystal Skull didn't rip off Stargate since the whole crystal skull/alien connection has been around for the better part of a century. But Avatar almost follows Stargate beat-for-beat. Although it will have Michelle Rodriguez in it...

Were you really gonna kill yourself, or is that a joke I don't get? If you were I'm glad you didn't, I disagree with almost everything you say with regards to movies, but you're a funny fucker and the place wouldn't be the same without you.

Thank you for the support. <p> And no...I wasn't. But if I were, DocP. would be the person to rub it in. Fucking prick. <p> This actually comes from a post I put up to my regulars on here right before Christmas saying something like "Last few months has been fun guys....thanks for all the good times. Have a good holiday." Thats it. Shows you what kinda guy DocP is to hunt me down and spew his bullshit.

SG-1 did the crystal thing and SG-1 was always about archeological finds. Alien Tech + archeology = fuse them together and u get stargate. indy was never about sci fi it was more into paranormal stuff until now.

Dickblood is no friend of mine. This is the guy who has wished me dead in traffic (among other things) numerous times in talkback, so I'm not going to feel bad for jibing him for his online attention whoring innuendos -- especially when he gets sanctimonious and hypocritical about it.

...in South America they were looking for or just something like it? How was that episode? I've never seen the show, but I always hear about the storylines and they sound cool. How is that Atlantis one?

I'm an attention whore when I tell people I regularly talk to, to have a nice holiday? If you wanna be an asshole thats fine. I do it to, and I have a damn fun time. But you are just fucking bizarre and grouchy. Why do you come here?

Indy was always about myths and legends and shit like that and Roswell at this point is pretty much a modern day equivalent. It was more the shitty quality of the rest of the movie that bothered me. I saw the SG1 episode with the skulls, didn't some guy end up in a parallel universe or something? It was pretty good, better than Indy 4 anyway...

Bad acting, stupid looking sets. It's still around because it costs like ten bucks and episode, but it's no Battlestar Galactica. I can't believe it has even been brought up in this talkback as a source of influence for filmmakers. Please.

Were in kung fu panda ffs. Seriously - massive, well directed, inventive action scenes coming from a cartoon about a talking panda.
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There are just very few directors in hollywood at the moment that know how to direct action. The popularity of "shakey cam" and "mtv editing" to hide a shoddy action scene and give a false sense of excitment is ruining action cinema. TDK was great but even that had crappy action scenes. Even Spielberg lost it in KoCS, he's normally great for well put together set pieces.

No I haven't seen either actually. But I sometimes wonder why Battlestar is even called that. Does it have anything to do with the original other than character names? Where the fuck are the furry Ewok rip-offs? No alien life forms on that show?

The rest of the film should have been compeltely different. Not that that is a revolutionary thought about Indy IV. <p> Is it wrong that I am still "boycotting" and refuse to actually watch Bay's first Transformers movie?

everyone here knows it. subtlety is a value people, plus it makes the show more effective in presenting its story and characters. Atlantis got the best subtle humor i ever seen in order for one to get it he would have to know the characters very well.

...but Atlantis just seems like a cheap spinoff so I never really gave it a chance. Is it self contained episodes or have they gone for these long drawn out season long story arcs? That's the problem with recent TV shows, the episodes ain't self-contained so they have no re-watch value. I can't imagine who the fuck buys these Lost box sets and just watches a random episode. What's the fucking point?

well stargate is weird in that its a blend in a way. the story-arcs dont follow each other in order it sort of continues with one story later on in the season or next season. but i would say compared to most shows it is self-contained or has independent episodes that are still relevant though to wither character development or expanding the story.

The TV spots are brilliant. I know that much. I saw a bit of the episode with the blonde chick rolling around and orgasming in red paint.....I thought I had accidentally put on one of my old VHS tapes with Red Shoe Diary episodes, but not-- it was Battlestar. <p> I do mean to check it out eventually when its all over. I cant stay consistent with watching a tv show. I always forget its on.

I've never read a Batman comic in my life, and I didn't watch the cartoon Transformers as a kid, so I have no special care about source material. and honestly, your point about TRansformers and Batman being different, and therefore having different expectations is a little bit meaningless. I did NOT expect a great movie from Bay in Transformers, like I did (and got) from Nolan with Dark Knight, and that is what I have said like 20 TIMES. I just expected it to be COMPETENT and at least not offensive to the brain. I thought Spielberg producing might somehow calm Bay's ADHD down and we might get a semi-coherent film. it was never going to be great, but at least passable? maybe?<p>look, if you like the movie, fine. I don't care. but even though people whine when you say it, and don't want to admit it, there ARE some quantifiable measurements for the quality of films. there are REASONS that you can LIST OUT why The Godfather is great. there are REASONS you can LIST OUT, why a movie like, (just picking at random here) The Happening is not a good film. by any reasonable measure, TRansformers was a mess of a film. zero character development, subplots that went nowhere, shameless and laughable product placement, convoluted and senseless plot devices, one dimensional secondary characters, schizophrenic pacing through the entire 2nd and 3rd acts, the list goes ON AND ON. so if you like the film, fine, like it. but you can't claim it's a good film because you like it. you just enjoyed a bad film. top defending it and do what the rest of te kids, er...people on here that liked Transformers have done: admit it was a stupid film but you had fun and liked it. great! have at it! but some of us have higher expectations, even from Michael Bay. and that's saying a lot...<p>as for the stereotypes, man, you missed the point on those entirely. the fact that the PC police have black characters in non-traditional occupations for black characters, or the women have some random knowledge or ability (that functions as a deus ex machina at JUST the right time, of course, another example of LAZY direction and writing) does not mean they are not stereotypes. all black people yell, that's a stereotype. all black people treat their mom/grandma like a verbal pinata, that's a stereotype. all women have to be over-the-top attractive and wear skimpy clothing, or they're not worthy to be in a movie, that's a stereotype. <p>Bay DEVALUES women and minorities. my god man, it doesn't matter what JOB he gives them. you have to look at these things a little deeper, kid.<p>and for the record, I didn't pay to see Transformers 1 (I saw it at the official Paramount lot screening in LA, I even wrote a review of it for AICN if you'd like to check) and you really shouldn't stay up in your racecar bed worrying that I'll pay to see the next one. I grew out of my "brain-shut-off" switch a ling while ago.

DVR? i wish. had to get the Xvid version from internet and do some uncompression and some color correction. it took time. but i recommend downloading the HD version, i just didnt know at the time how to extract video from a matroska .mkv file.

I've had this argument so many times with friends and loved ones it's fucking untrue. I think the people that like Transformers do so just for the pure spectacle, it might as well be an FX reel or something. I enjoyed independence Day for the same reason. I personally can't enjoy Bay's movies though because I just can't stand all the quick cuts and shit like that. It's like getting kicked in the fucking face.

for hating Transformers...my original review for aintitcool last year...<p>Hey guys, BadMrWonka here. got to see an early showing of Transformers here in LA tonight, and I thought I'd weigh in. hopefully you can use it. I am going to reference a lot of things from the movie, but I'll try to be vague so as to not spoil too much...<p>
First off, since this is such a divisive movie, I should let you know briefly where I stood before seeing the movie. Although I'm the prime age range, I never really got into Transformers as a kid. I saw the cartoons, and I remember having a couple toys, but it sort of passed on by without leaving too much of a lasting impression. So I hold no glorious standards for the source material. If that differs from your take on it, hopefully you'll take that into account when reading my review. On the other hand, I really don't care for Michael Bay that much. I don't hate his films, I just don't like them very much. I don't like the fact that I can see little cliched moments that are virtually identical in every one of his movies, I don't like that he seems like a dick in real life, I don't like his little beard. But I also don't expect his movies to be anything other than what they are. I just hope they're not quite as bad as the one before. I don't think Micheal Bay has ever ruined a movie...he simply chooses projects, or develops them, or has them developed for him, that are innately unsalvageable as "real" films. (Tell me how Bad Boys, as a concept, could have been an Oscar contender...) Well, maybe Pearl Harbor could have been good...
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So anyway, on with the show. I got no intro whatsoever for the film, no one said a word. Which isn't surprising since it's obviously finished by now. The first action sequence is amazing, the sound is incredible. After a few cliched characters giving a few cliched lines in the midst of cliched moments, it begins in earnest, and knocks the wind out of you. Then we get onto Shia's story, and it's actually good! The jokes are funny, the car buying sequence is hilarious...everything is actually WORKING! There's a Judd Apatow reference?!?! Are you kidding me? Transformers? good? Even VERY good?
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Then it all kind of goes to shit. The inevitable diarrhea you were expecting from eating a Michael Bay-rrito starts to rumble in your stomach. The glimpse of a well-made movie that could have been, falls by the wayside as we get into the "plot" of the film. The traditional Bay stereotypes are all there, saying all the same crapola you've heard them say a million times. There's the hot girl with obscene amounts of knowledge on a specific topic, and yes it comes in handy. There's the black stereotype, yelling at the top of his lungs, because that's what black stereotypes do. There's the military guy who just wants to see his wife and kid. There's BadMrWonka burying the hopes he had in the first 20 minutes.
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As the movie plods along, it can't seem to decide whether to take itself seriously or not. There are a host of in-jokes, from references to the old series, to actual references to other Michael Bay movies. I am NOT joking. It's truly cringe-worthy. But the worst part is how awkward the explication is. When Megatron gives the all important "this is what the hell's going on" speech, it's the same as the audience got in the opening intro before the title. So we're sitting there going, "yeah, we got it, are you going to DO something?" And then they fart around in Shia's yard for 20 minutes. A house being accidentally destroyed was funny in Harry and the Hendersons. Here, it goes on WAY too long.
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The rest of the movie is a huge fight scene, wrapped around a couple twists in the plot that are so silly, I half expected a new character to be named "Deus ex machina" (perhaps in the sequel?). There are HUGE gaping plot holes, and things that make no sense plot-wise. And here's a tip, if you have robots that can't really emote in their faces, and you want to have a touching moment, and Michael Bay is directing, and Steve Jablonsky is doing the music? Just go ahead and shoot yourself. Cause it ain't happening.
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It seems, when the Transformers are first arriving to earth, that they simply choose the first car/truck they see, and change into that. and when Bumblebee is made fun of by Shia's girl for being a junky old car, he transforms into a snazzy new version. so it seems they can change into anything at will. so then why does it matter if, say, your legs get cut off? make new ones! why not be a different car, if someone is chasing you and knows what you look like?
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The worst part is they do what I REALLY hate about this big movies, they SHOVE them full of smaller characters, introduce them, give them a little personality trait and a little thing to do, and then we NEVER get any resolution to their story. Only Shia and his chick and one other character get ANY kind of resolution.
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So, what you really want to know:
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The fights: they are pretty cool, but there is SO much going on, and SO quick a pace, and the camera is SO shaky and in need of Ritalin, it's hard to make out what is happening a lot of the time. And then, after 10 minutes of flying pixels and explosions, and one-liners, there will be a long, EXTREMELY slow shot with a Transformer doing some maneuvre over a pedestrian as the "camera" pans just right to catch it all. Isn't there anything in between the frenetic, what the fuck did I just see, type of shots, and the "ok, I get it, you spent a lot on this film's FX" shots? christ.
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The acting: Shia, again, ESPECIALLY in the first 20 minutes, is gold with the funny lines. he's really good, honestly. I would seriously challenge anyone to say otherwise. when he has to be tough, well, he's not really tough. But neither is his character. Other than that, he just runs a lot. When he has to deliver the funny, it's not bad. Overall, I doubt any young actor could have done any better, and a lot could have done worse. He is in NO WAY the problem with this movie.
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John Turturro seems like he's drunk. Literally, I mean that I think he may have been drunk while filming some of the scenes. But it works, and he has some funny lines and bits. It feels like one of those things where he said, "yeah I'll do it, but only if I get to be quirky". better than being a Bay cliche, I guess. Everyone else hams it up. The girls are hot, and uninteresting. Voight is wrinkly. Duhamel is not really acting, just yelling military jargon and shooting. Except for delivering the dumbest line of the movie to Shia. The entire theater actually groaned and chuckled in what was supposed to be a serious moment. Then he does the most unthinkably ridiculous and implausible (yes, even for a movie with giant fighting robots) stunt I can recall seeing in a movie in a long time. And he goes a little crazy for a second. And then he goes back to his jargon immediately.
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The source material: it felt, to me, like they tried to make up for the fact that all the Transformers look completely different from their 80's counterparts, by making them talk and act EXACTLY like their 80's counterparts. Which, to me, seemed silly. But people I was with, who read comics and had more affinity for the original series, said the dialogue rang true. I just thought it was silly. To me, the old cartoons saying these completely unrealistic lines was fine. When you have this new, sleek, fast machine, saying things that are, at best, cheesy. It sounds ultra-cheesy.
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is it a boy and his car? well yes and no, but if you're afraid that's all it is, don't worry. plenty of robot on robot fighting...well...blurring past the digitally created camera at super speeds, to be exact. Shia's relationship with Bumblebee is actually fairly decently done, and it didn't feel like it was too much. The house/garden scene was, though.
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Overall, I think Spielberg directed the first 20 minutes, stuck his name on, and never looked back. I simply do not see him in this movie after the beginning. It's all Bay all day every day. And they stole a line exchange from From Dusk til Dawn. fuck that.
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If you are predisposed to like this movie, you will find plenty to like, and a little to bemoan. If you are predisposed to hate it, you'll find plenty to hate, but I gaurantee you'll laugh a few times in the beginning and get your ass kicked by the first fight scene. And Scott Farkus is in it.
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If you're in the middle, well, it will depend on how patient you are with Bay. Did you see Bad Boys, Armaggedon, The Rock and Pearl Harbor? Ever want to see them again, but with gigantic robots from space? Transformers is playing at your local theater.
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BadMrWonka

And that guy above who can't spell or string a proper sentence together is, well, pretty typical of us Scots. Not me though, I'm educated, I didn't leave school until I was 12 years old. I even get paid in money instead of food and shelter. For 55p (that's nearly an American Dollar) I bought a ZX Spectrum with 128K of memory, and it has been modded to go on the internet, so advanced is my country. I jest of course, but really, I spend 90% of my earnings on booze cos it's SHITE BEING SCOTTISH. Trainspotting gets some things spot on, although I haven't touched junkie shit in me life. Transformers? Thought the first one was a good fun film from a really dull script.

raked in so much money. They werent going to see transformers. they are all seeing JJ abrams trailer for cloverfield. That trailer created more than transformers movie ever did. Too bad cloverfield turned out to so mediocre.

Most people didnt expect to see it. It's not like the Phantom Menace trailer that was announced to be attached to Freddie Prinze Jr.'s Wing Commander movie and subsequently account for like 99.9 percent of its revenue.<p>
Besides this is the net age, nobody would pay to see that trailer when it would be all over youtube 2 seconds after it premiered.

I thought that this 2nd movie would have focused on the baddie(optimus prime) from the first film and his revenge. after all he was dumped at sea. and I loved megatrons call to arms to the other good transformers to come to earth. that with humans there is more than meets the eye. If there is one failure to bay as a filmmaker. I think he is too ambitious. bay cares little about the written word. all about visuals. I didnt see Bad boys two. I thought the island looked great. but it was utterly incomprehensible. It was on tv there a few in the UK a few months ago. He needs a strong Story writer. But I have seen nearly all of his films. I know he gets alot of hate around here. he makes great looking blockbuster movies. Deep impact is still a better movie the armeggeddon, which is a film that proves that liv tyler cant act. The incredible hulk cemented that proof. Looks nice. though.

Glad you understood everything that was going on clearly. You can then explain to me the logical progression of events as they happened. Cause and effect, one scent to the next. Reason and reaction.<br></br><br></br>Prime's line about standing and falling, would have had real impact on me had what preceded it felt like it wasn't random events but where events were triggered by characters actions and their actions were driven by their character. Again, I'd have to feel connected with the characters in some way. I don't go into a movie like this expecting to be challenged intellectually, but I do expect a film like this to connect with my heart, to make me care. Hearing Optimus spout a few lines of nostalgic dialog only inspires nostalgia (and I suspect this is what caused you to shed a tear), but it's only used for nostalgia, not in support of his character as portrayed by the rest of the film. They're thrown around cheaply, and forced. There is no sense that what we hear them say outside of those nostalgia quotes comes from anything but stock action dialog - stuff we probably thought was cool when we were six years old.

Optimus Prime: With the All Spark gone, we cannot return life to our planet. And fate has yielded its reward: a new world to call home. We live among its people now, hiding in plain sight, but watching over them in secret, waiting, protecting... I have witnessed their capacity for courage, and though we are worlds apart, like us.., there's more to them than meets the eye... I am Optimus Prime, and I send this message to any surviving Autobots taking refuge among the stars.. We are here. We are waiting...

Yeah dude THAT was cheezy as shit. And so missed the point of what transformers was. In the cartoon, THEY WANTED TO GET HOME. THATS REAL. An alien species wouldn't give up trying to get to their home world. These guys just decide to hide out on earth for the rest of their lives. And that makes you think well, I guess Cybertron is a pretty dull place. In the cartoon and comics all they could talk about was Cybertron and trying to get back there. In the pilot 3 part episode THAT WAS THE PLOT. The Autobots and Decepticons were racing to get back to Cybertron. Bays Transformers are weaksauce.

one of the best films of last year. I cannot recommend the movie highly. suberb. the cinemtography, the acting and the score. all carried me along and I wasnt bored for an istant. Boyle's best film since trainspotting. and its about as non hollywood as you can get. Hopefully thie will be danny boyles year to get some awards. He is really overdue.

It's a real hoot and very revealing to see this pack of assholes dogpile on "Transformers" when last week they defended that fucking "Speed Racer!"
Stop the hypocritical bullshit. It's bad enough you child murderers voted for Obama.